


Unexpected

by spikewriter



Series: Rose Tyler, Defender of the Earth and Her Faithful Companion, the Doctor (Oi!) [12]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-22
Updated: 2011-01-22
Packaged: 2017-10-14 23:54:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/154840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spikewriter/pseuds/spikewriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While working a case in London, something unexpectedly goes wrong for the Doctor and Rose</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unexpected

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to the lovely Jaradel on LJ for her excellent beta work, to my husband for being my first reader, and to papilio luna for providing the inspiration for this piece. 

"I thought you said I looked good in blue." The Doctor frowned at the device in his hand, then smacked it sharply on its side. "There we go. We should turn left at the corner. I distinctly remember a conversation where you said I looked good in blue.”

Rose sighed. Tracking a dealer in black-market alien tech through the twisting streets of Blackfriars was not her idea of a fun afternoon. "You do. Just not that suit."

"I’ll have you know the tailor on Vickeron Four said I looked very handsome when I picked this up. I think we're gaining on him. Why don't you like it?"

The last thing Rose wanted to tell him was that every time she saw him in the suit, it brought back memories of a windy beach and being abandoned four years ago by a man she'd crossed universes to find. Or that she hid it in the back of the closet at every possible opportunity. "Of course he said you looked good. I just think the color’s not quite right for you," she offered instead. "Now, the blue suit you got last month from Westmancott's? That is really lovely."

He flashed her a manic grin before focusing on his tracker once more as they rounded the corner. "But a bit too posh to wear out in the field. Horace would happily strangle me if I ruined his work. This one's much more suited to the job. Besides, I..."

He trailed off, mumbling, and Rose leaned in to try and catch the words. "What did you say?"

"I forgot to get my cleaning," he admitted. "Change of direction. Come on, Rose!"

He was off at a run and she had no choice but to follow or be left behind. She followed happily, catching his hand as she drew even with him. This was their life together and she loved it. Maybe they had a mortgage instead of a TARDIS, but they had one another and their work and that was good enough for them -- no matter how many hints Mum kept dropping. The Doctor and Rose Tyler hand in hand, chasing down evil-doers and saving the planet even when the planet didn't know it; that was how it should be.

They emerged from the rabbit warren of old buildings to find themselves near St. Paul's and their quarry now in sight. "Think he's heading for the bridge?" Rose asked a bit breathlessly.

"I think it’s a definite possibility. Come on!"

There'd be plenty of time later to remind him Torchwood field operatives — even part-timers such as himself — were supposed to exercise at least some subtlety, but for now they were running, skirting the perimeter of the cathedral, past the monument to London firefighters, and racing down the steps of Peter's Hill toward the Millennium Bridge. Problem was, the man had seen them and was running himself, moving out over the bridge toward the South Bank.

The day was warm, and the bridge was crowded with not only office workers in search of lunch but tourists heading toward the Globe and Tate Modern, which suddenly made the chase much more difficult. "Control, this is Bad Wolf. We need backup," Rose called into the headset all field agents were supposed to wear on missions. "Suspect crossing Thames at Millennium Bridge, moving south. The Doctor and I are in pursuit." She should have used the Doctor's call sign as well, but no one ever did. He was, in whatever universe he lived in, simply the Doctor.

"Roger, Bad Wolf," came Jake's voice in her ear. "We are rolling now. ETA less than five minutes."

She was just about to tell the Doctor that backup was on its way when he suddenly stopped, causing her to pull up abruptly. "What are you doing? He's getting away!"

"He just dropped something." He pulled his sonic screwdriver from his jacket pocket and moved forward cautiously. Rose's first instinct was to tell people to get away, clear out of the area, but she’d only start a panic, a situation as potentially dangerous as whatever it was the quarry had dropped.

The sight of a man aiming what looked like some fancy laser pointer with a blue light at a package turned a few heads, but most people thankfully kept moving, taking no notice. That was how it worked; the world kept moving, not realizing what was going on right under their very nose. Lumic's Cybermen were almost a decade gone now, the idea there were very strange and dangerous things out there seemingly receded from most folks' minds.

Whatever readings he was getting, the Doctor didn’t seem worried by them. Some of the tension left his body as he stopped just a short distance from the package; he probably wasn't expecting it to suddenly burst into flame.

A woman screamed, which was ever so helpful because it started a bit of a panic, as some people tried to race away from the area while others crowded forward to see what was going on. The Doctor acted quickly, stripping off his suit jacket to drop it over the package to help smother the flames. "Fire extinguisher!" he yelled even as smoke began to rise from the fabric.

Hoping one could be found on the docks at the base of the Southwark side of the bridge, Rose raced for the shore just as Jake and the others arrived. Other voices were calling for an extinguisher and from somewhere a bucket of sand was pressed into her hands. Now in the middle of a full-blown public operation, the bridge was being evacuated as she raced back to dump the sand over the jacket. Throwing the bucket to one side, she turned her full attention to Doctor. "It wasn't supposed to do that," he protested, staring at the smoldering pile with annoyance.

"Are you okay?" Rose asked, not really giving a damn about the package at the moment.

"I'm fine," he assured her, moving his leg so he could nudge the pile with his toe. "I'm wondering if our friend booby-trapped it to distract us."

She grabbed his hand, pulling him backward. "Don't go nudging it with your foot, okay? I happen to like that foot."

He gave her another one of his brilliant smiles as Phil, one of the team, came trotting up with a proper extinguisher. A stream of suppressing foam and that was the end of that. "We'll wait a few minutes to make certain it's out before trying to move anything," Phil said, eying the pile of foam, sand and charred fabric dubiously. "Do you want us to dispose of the jacket, Doctor? I'm afraid it's ruined."

His smile faded as the Doctor looked down once more. "I liked that jacket," he complained, the hint of a whine in his voice. "It --"

Without another word, he reached down to gingerly retrieve his jacket from the mess. A good shake to dislodge what foam and sand he could – only to have the remains of one sleeve fall off. Despite her best efforts, Rose couldn't stop the laughter from bubbling up at his rather annoyed expression. “At least the pants are okay,” she managed, though the words earned her a rather petulant glare.

“The least you can do is help me get everything out of the pockets," he grumbled. He turned to Phil. “I need a container, preferably something large.”

The Doctor making unusual or even ludicrous requests was nothing new for Rose's team, but Phil looked skeptical. “Come on; how much can you hold in there? It always looks like you’re carrying nothing.”

There was a certain way the Doctor drew himself up and puffed out his chest which warned Rose he was about to offer a dissertation on the science behind his pockets. Suddenly, though, his entire body shuddered and he stumbled, the jacket falling to the ground.

Rose caught him, one arm wrapped about his waist as the other gripped his arm. “I’ve got you. Doctor? Can you hear me?”

He didn’t look at her, instead staring at his hand. “It can’t be,” he whispered.

She turned her head to follow his gaze and felt her stomach lurch. Lines of golden energy pulsed just below the skin, harbinger of a change she’d seen before. “No. You promised. One heart, one life. You can’t leave me.”

“Don’t want to leave you.” His knees buckled as he grimaced and she couldn’t support his weight anymore, both of them falling to the cold metal surface of the bridge. It was a terrible feeling of déjà vu, another metal floor where she thought she was going to lose him. Now, as then, she held on tight, determined not to let go as he began to curl into a ball, his face contorted with pain, the golden veins in his hand pulsing with regeneration energy.

"Don't you go. Don't you dare change on me." The tears were running hot and fast down her face, just as they had then. He started to smile, but then another shudder wracked his body as his face contorted with pain. Inside her head, Rose heard Jack's voice shouting at her to get away, that she had to let go because she knew what was going to happen. Not this time. Whatever was happening, she wasn't letting him go through it alone.

Chaos swirled around them, Phil calling for an ambulance, Jake’s voice demanding anxiously what was going on — but Rose paid none of it any heed, her whole world narrowed to the man whose hand she held. Then the energy flared as he gave voice to a strangled cry -- and it was over as quickly as it'd begun, his body going limp as traces of golden energy swirled outward, much as they had when he'd changed to this face.

Rose checked for vitals, only remembering to breathe again when she felt an oddly steady pulse beneath her fingers. He was alive. What's more, he was alive and he was still him. At least, she hoped he was still him. She wouldn't know until he opened his eyes again.

"The ambulance is on its way," Jake knelt down next to her. "Is he...?"

"He's alive. What else, I don't know."

There wasn't anything else she could do except shift so his head was cradled in her lap. He was breathing, his heart was beating and he had a pulse; at the moment, she'd count that for a plus.

As she waited for his eyes to open, the work of the operation went on, clearing away the remains of the box that had caused so much trouble. "Gemini's going to want to know what's inside," Jake said, using Pete's call sign since they were in public. "Especially if it could cause this.”

Rose didn't say anything, but the more she thought about it, the more she knew the box had had nothing to do with what just happened. There was only one other explanation and she felt her throat tighten at the thought.

Jake had almost certainly summoned Torchwood's medics, but the city's Emergency Services personnel arrived first, probably called by someone in the crowd. "What happened?" was the first question the paramedics asked as they began unpacking their equipment.

 _Unexpected side effect of a Time Lord-Human Metacrisis?_ "He collapsed," Rose said, unwilling to give them more than the bare minimum. "We were...dealing with something and he just collapsed."

"You Torchwood lot never 'just' collapse," the man said. "What's his name?"

"The Doctor," she answered automatically, but the paramedic shook his head.

"Not his call sign; his _name_.”

Rose was about to tell the man that _was_ his name and he didn't really need another when Jake supplied, "John Smith. Dr. John Smith."

"Right. You're his girlfriend? Wife? What's your name, sweetheart? Rose? You're going to have to move back, Rose. I know you don't want to let go, but we need room to work. Here, I've got his head, so you just ease out there..."

As Rose shifted, the man's partner shoved something under the Doctor's head so it wasn't lying directly on the deck -- and was rewarded with a groan. Instantly, the paramedic was checking vitals, pulling open the Doctor's eyelid to measure pupil reaction. "Can you hear me, John? If you can, open your eyes or move your fingers, something so we know you're in there."

The Doctor groaned again, swatting at the man's hand. "That's it, John. Come back to us."

Brown eyes flew open. "Who the hell is John? And why are you calling me that?"

"We may have a concussion here. Do you remember your name?"

"Of course; I'm the Doctor." He struggled to sit up despite the paramedics' best efforts to keep him prone. "Rose?"

She practically threw herself into his arms. "I'm here. You didn't change."

"Of course I didn't. One life, remember? I'm going to spend it with you."

While in the field, they tried to restrict themselves to post-danger hugging, but this was a situation that definitely called for a snog. She grabbed great handfuls of his shirt and hauled him to her, ignoring everything around them in favor of the center of her universe.

Eventually, they were both forced to come up for air and the look he gave her was as warm as the one he'd given her in the TARDIS all those years ago after he'd first changed. "Hello."

Now came the post-danger hugging and it was only when the paramedics insisted they needed to finish checking him out that Rose let him go so the Doctor could argue over whether or not he was going to the hospital for his supposed concussion. He won in the end, just as she expected him to, the paramedics packing their gear as the field crew finished their cleanup, the remains of the blue jacket pressed into Rose's hands for safekeeping. The Torchwood medics had arrived by then, but they had no more success than city emergency services, the Doctor blithely insisting he had no need of being checked out.

The moment the medics were gone, however, the blitheness seemed to vanish, his eyes taking on a sad, far away look. He didn't say anything, but Rose couldn't help noticing him wandering down toward the Tate as she and Jake handled the cleanup details. She didn't think he'd wander too far away, but the moment Jake said, "We can handle it," she headed after him.

He hadn't gone far at all, leaning on the railing designed to keep pedestrians from tumbling off the Jubilee Walk into the Thames, his eyes fixed on the view across the river. "The first time the Cybermen attacked London," he said as she approached, "they hid in the sewers. A bunch of them came out near St. Paul's and headed down Peter's Hill."

"I take it we're not talking about the whole thing with Torchwood," Rose said, taking up a position next to him.

"No. This was long, long, long before you were born. In fact, your mum would have been just a wee one herself when it happened. The government suppressed as much of it as they could; said it was for everyone's good." He sighed. "London was very different then. The Tate? That was a power station, the Globe was just a dream and the National was under construction, but no one was certain it'd ever actually be completed. I was different -- different face, different life."

"He's regenerated, hasn't he?"

Her words were quiet, but he didn't turn to look at her, his gaze instead dropping toward his right hand. "Yeah. I'm not certain I ever realized just quite how much it hurt. Well, I did, but it's the kind of thing you forget until it's suddenly on you again. But to go through that and not change -- "

Rose slid a little closer, her shoulder bumping his. "You didn't change the last time."

"But I should have. Didn't even know it was going to work when I tried the thing, just aimed for the jar and hoped. There's a gap in my memories there. I remember pouring the regeneration energy into the hand -- my hand -- then I don't remember anything until I woke up naked on the TARDIS floor with Donna looking at me in horror."

Only now did he turn toward her. "I remember thinking I didn't want to change and become something different -- because I'm always a bit different when I regenerate. I wanted to be me with you and I thought it was pretty damn unfair of the universe to bring you back, then make me regenerate without even a proper hug. That's why I tried it. Just didn't anticipate the consequences."

She slid her arms around him and they stood together for some time as the rhythm of the city flowed around them. Face buried tight against his shoulder, breathing in his familiar scent, she found tears forming for the Doctor who'd left them behind. “It’s okay to mourn him,” her Doctor said at one point. “It is an ending.”

She knew she didn’t need his permission to cry, but his understanding made it easier to let herself go for a few minutes, remembering all those wonderful adventures — and another loss, when icy blue eyes had become brown and she’d found herself hard pressed to understand what had happened. Even as she wept, though, she felt familiar arms around her holding her close and his hand stroking her hair

"Was someone with him?" she asked at last, when the tears had slowed enough she could speak.

"I don't know," he said, his breath warm against her ear. "I hope so; it'd be better that way."

"I remember how bad it was for you. All fine and then you started burping energy and going crazy."

"Oh, that wasn't the worst one. There was the time when the first thing I did was try to strangle my companion."

Her head move backed abruptly. "You did what?"

He gave her a rueful smile. “It's a long story and I cite the fact that Peri was more than slightly annoying as mitigating circumstances."

Her eyes still itching with tears, Rose found herself laughing. "I don't think I'll ever stop learning new things about you."

"I hope not. I'd lose most of my charm if you did." His expression sobered. "It's the way of the Time Lords, Rose. We don't grow old, we change, remember? Even if I hadn't happened, if you'd stayed with him, there would have come the moment when he would have taken one risk too many and there'd be a regeneration. What if he's older now? Where would that leave you? Our relationship is different than yours was with him, and that was different from what it was when I had big ears and short hair. Oh, I still would have loved you because I don't think I could ever stop, but all this, who we are together, that could have ended."

"I thought we'd settled all that," she said, a touch of heat in her voice at the thought of revisiting the old and painful argument.

"We have. I'm so much luckier than him because I have you and I don't have to worry about regenerating, risk becoming something that might repel you. Just -- it took me by surprise, that's all. Probably shouldn't have since my hand is all Time Lord. Some residual connection, I suppose."

He waggled his fingers at her and she laughed. There'd be more tears later, but the fact he was here with her, still with the brilliant, manic light in his eyes, made the idea that her brown-suited Doctor wasn't out there any more somewhat easier to bear. "Come on," she said. "I told Jake we were taking the rest of the day off so you could rest."

"Rose, I kinda-sorta quasi regenerated one appendage and my nails didn't even grow; I don't need to take a nap."

"It’s either that or let the medics check you out."

"Did you hear one call me John?" he grumbled as they began to walk back toward the bridge. "Why do they insist on doing that, call me by a name I don't use?"

"Because it's what's on your papers. They were trying to make a connection; it’s part of their training, how they try to get you to respond."

"I don't respond to John, just like you don't respond to Rose Smith."

"Because I'm not Rose Smith; we'd have to be married and even then, I'd probably stay Tyler. Here, you can carry this."

She handed him the remains of his blue jacket, which he took with a sigh. "You really think the suit didn't work on me?"

"Trust me, not your best look." She looked at him quizzically. "Let me guess; not your worst, either?"

"There are some things I'm very glad I can never show you." As they reached the central portion of the bridge, halfway across the river, he stopped. “But’s there’s still so much I do want to show you. Do you realize we haven’t been to Tierra del Fuego yet?”

“Because there hasn’t been any evidence of alien tech there — wherever it is,” she teased, knowing full well he was about to tell her.

“At the base of South America,” he said, taking her hand as he pulled her forward once again. “Means ‘the Land of Fire’ — though I’ve never been able to figure out why Magellan gave it that name since the climate is prone to rain most of the time.”

Rose let his words flow over her as they walked, her fingers twining in his as he plotted a grand new adventure — and how he could get Torchwood to pick up most of the cost. Yes, there was an ache for the man she’d lost, but there was also the man who’d stayed, whom she wouldn’t trade for anything.

“Think if I asked Horace very nicely, he might be willing to reproduce my suit? He’s such a clever fellow; wouldn’t be any problem for him to find a fabric just like it,” he said, grinning down at her.

Rose grinned back. “But it’d be such a shame to run Horace’s work through the shredder,” she replied with a sweetness that implied he’d be spending the next month on the couch as well.

“Annnd I saw some lovely dark grey fabric with a lighter stripe the last time I was in. Maybe I should consider that instead. Fancy some chips?”

She moved a little closer, sliding her arm through his. They were together, just as it should be.


End file.
